Former Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer, pictured here at a March 21, 2023 press conference.
(PHOTO BY SUSAN SMILEY)
Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer, who announced last week he was retiring on April 19, was fired by Mayor Lori Stone Tuesday afternoon.
Dwyer said City Controller Richard Fox, Chief of Staff Kristina Lodovisi, and acting Human Resources Director Jacqueline Damron came to his office Tuesday afternoon and gave him a letter from Stone saying that effective immediately, his services were no longer needed.
“I asked if I could stay through Friday and they told me I could not, that I had to leave immediately,” said Dwyer, who served for decades as Farmington Hills police chief and also as an Oakland County commissioner. “I was thrown out of my office.”
Stone did not give Dwyer a reason for the firing, but the former commissioner said he believes a disagreement between he and the mayor regarding the hiring process for police officers is at the root of it. Dwyer spoke to the media about the rift which he believes angered the mayor.
Stone, the newly elected mayor who replaced longtime Warren leader Jim Fouts, implemented a hiring freeze for police in February at a time when the department is down 20 officers due to retirements and promotions.
She deemed it “temporary freeze” that has been put in place while police hiring is transitioned from the Warren Police Department back to the city’s human resources department.
The Warren Police Department took over hiring for its department in 2021 and was responsible for all advertising, hiring and psychological testing. An agreement between the Warren Police Department, Warren Police Officers Association and city administration allowed for hiring process outside of Michigan Act 78 so that the police department could oversee all aspects of hiring.
Stone issued a statement late Tuesday afternoon saying that no date was agreed upon for Dwyer’s retirement and that it became apparent that “our viewpoints on hiring no longer aligned.” She told The Macomb Daily on March 1 Dwyer’s last day would be April 19.
The Macomb Daily did make a request to interview Stone regarding the move but only received the written statement.
In the release, Stone said Deputy Commissioner Charles Rushton would serve as interim police commissioner while a search for Dwyer’s replacement is conducted.
In what appeared to be a final act of retribution by the new mayor, Dwyer, who drove a city vehicle, was left without a way to get home after being dismissed Tuesday and had to be driven by an off-duty city employee.
Dwyer was appointed as Warren’s Police Commissioner in 2017 by then-mayor James Fouts. Dwyer also served in that capacity from April 2008 to December 2010. He served as police chief in Farmington Hills for 23 years and for eight years from 2011-18 on the Oakland County Board of Commissioners. He was elected to the Farmington Hills City Council last November.